Make An Effort, Not An Excuse, continued. The organization expressed a keen interest in working
with Chris and Mariah. The opportunity to work with Athletes and Causes definitely intrigued the couple, but they weren’t sure, yet, in what capacity. As Chris’s workload with the Bucs intensified, Mariah
wanted to become active in the community through volunteer work, leaning toward something involving animals. After doing some research, she visited the Humane Society of Tampa Bay and fell in love with what the shelter was doing. She started volunteering with their supervised playgroups, a kind of group therapy that helps build social skills between the shelter dogs.
Team Godwin: Chris, Ghost, Mariah, and Ziggy. Photographed on the rooftop bar at Ulele.
Quickly, Mariah discovered the problem of pet overpopu-
lation across the United States. She didn’t realize how many healthy companion pets in shelters were euthanized every year. Last year alone, about 733,000 adoptable dogs and cats were killed in shelters across the country, simply because they were not adopted.* More than 55,000 of those were in Florida shelters. As one of five states with the highest euthanasia num- bers, Florida joins Texas, California, North Carolina, and Georgia to claim that dubious honor. “Until I started volunteering with the Humane Society of
Tampa Bay, I just had no idea that, in this day and age, this is a real occurrence,” said Mariah. “And, I certainly had no knowl- edge of the puppy mill problem!” Mariah shared her newfound information and stats with
Chris. Suddenly the vision for their foundation became clear. Through Athletes and Causes, they set up the Team Godwin Foundation, which will provide shelter animals with a second chance through advocacy, education and financial support. “Programs like our Second Chance Fund will help
provide life-saving treatments for at-risk shelter animals that might otherwise be euthanized,” said Mariah. “Through education, we’ll use our voices to help further promote the importance of animal adoption,” she added. “Now that I know the statistics, thanks to Mariah, I’m
comfortable speaking up with my teammates and peers when given the opportunity,” said Chris.
*Stats from Best Friends Animal Society. 2019. 50 THE NEW BARKER
www.TheNewBarker.com
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